


Of Things Not Forgotten

by tfwfangirlsatk



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Business, Cliffhangers, Corporate Espionage, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 00:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5948392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfwfangirlsatk/pseuds/tfwfangirlsatk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a mole somewhere in First Order Oil and Kylo Ren is determined to track them down before they mess with their profit margin any further. He thinks he's on the right track until a figure from his past shows up and makes everything that much more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Things Not Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TeenageCriminalMastermind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeenageCriminalMastermind/gifts).



> So this is a little different - my prompts were Matt the Radar Technician, Modern AU, and Angst - but my overly imaginative brain decided that those three powers combined made corporate espionage. So, the AU no one asked for was born!

When the smell of warm vanilla first hit his nose, his eyes closed at the simple bliss of a smell that was both familiar and foreign in the area surrounding him. It was hard to imagine there was much call to have that familiar homey scent in a computer server room, but it was there nonetheless. The scent was a comfort, even as he realized to whom the smell belonged. It could only be one person, because who else would think to use vanilla extract as a perfume when they could easily spend over seventy times more on a bottle of Dior? 

The girl could afford to do so, or at least she could at the last time he checked on her a year ago. Hell, when he’d been dating her and bought her the most popular couture scent on the market, she’d never touched it — she’d said that it just didn’t feel like something she’d wear even if she did find the smell lovely. He felt like she was placating him more than anything, but he’d let the argument slide unchallenged. 

No, any doubt he had was banished from his mind — it had to be her and that meant that things were going to be infinitely more difficult. How would he be able to do what needed to be done to protect his business if he was reunited with the girl he’d dreamed of after all of these years? She was the one woman in the world he couldn’t get over no matter how many gorgeous and educated people he dated. He’d forgotten how many people he’d fucked. How many people told him that they loved him. None of them mattered, not really. They weren’t _her_ and he didn’t know if he could ever truly move past that fact.

When Kylo Ren had first met Rey Kenobi, she’d been nineteen and full of optimism and he was thirty and intrigued. The way she’d moved in her simple sunset orange sundress had drawn his eyes to her; the way the sleeves of her white cardigan pulled taut on her arms, highlighting their strength, had left him staring with rapt attention. It wasn’t every day that he was around a prodigy, especially one who was important enough to be presenting at the same symposium he was lecturing at. To say that she was also beautiful was an understatement, with her hair pulled up into an effortlessly messy bun, she was unaffected and without the poise present in other people in attendance. It was hard to believe at only nineteen, not only did she have a degree, she had _two_ of them. She was unlike anyone he’d ever met and that had ultimately led to him being curious by her. 

He still remembered the first time that he’d heard her voice. Her rich accent was like velvet to ears long bored with the twangs of the southwest. The way she enunciated was honey-smooth and he leaned forward from the seat he’d taken in the back of the auditorium. She’d been lecturing to an unsurprisingly small crowd of ten to fifteen people about renewable fuel’s importance and the potential impact on the planet’s future. 

He would not have normally given her the time of day but she was smart, funny, stubborn, idealistic, vivacious. Her speech was well-rehearsed and her presentation surprisingly engaging; it wasn’t a standard powerpoint with slides that left most viewer's eyes glazed over with boredom. He’d only meant to listen to her presentation for a few minutes, but he’d been so enraptured he’d sat down to listen to the whole thing.

“What we have to realize is that by putting off the potential effects our selfishness will have on the Earth at large, we’re making our world that much worse.” Her slideshow flickered to the next image, and Rey gestured to before-and-after shots of what the Earth’s atmosphere from the 1940’s to the most recent picture from the International Space Station. “As you can see, our world has aged well before its time and this is not something plastic surgery can fix. The atmosphere is not some wrinkle we can plump out with botox, it is something that we have to work hard at. The answers won’t be easy and it challenges a lot of the mores that have been in place for generations, but we must fight _today_. If we don’t, there may not be a tomorrow. Thank you.”

When it was over, he’d gone up to the front to give her a smile and maybe ask her out for a drink after the day’s events. He didn’t believe in everything she’d said — it wouldn’t be good business since he was heavily involved with big oil — but he’d definitely been moved by her words. She’d captured his attention in a way no one had managed to in a long time. While her beauty was eye-catching, it was her brain that fascinated him the most. When he’d reached her, he’d seen her eyes flash at him and her mouth turn down at the corners. “Whatever it is you’re about to say—I don’t want to hear it. I have nothing to say to you.” She said, turning up her nose at him.

“I’m sorry, what?” Kylo’s easy smile had quickly turned into a deep scowl, his hands going to the lapels of his navy blue Armani jacket to straighten it. He was impeccably dressed with not a hair out of place and he would not have felt misplaced within the upper echelon. In fact, he’d been known to mingle with the rich and famous on a regular basis.

“I know exactly who you are and what you do for a living, so I have absolutely no interest in talking to you.” Rey turned her back on him and was about to walk away when he reached out and lightly grasped her arm.

She’d turned back to him and was about to let him have it when he released her arm and said, “I’m sorry for that, but I think you need to actually _speak_ with me before you go deciding who I am and what it is I represent.” With a frustrated huff, he ran his fingers through his hair and said, “I wanted to come speak to you to tell you that I appreciated what you’re trying to do and that you really changed my views on a lot of things. Your presentation was well thought out and you are an eloquent speaker. I wanted to know if you would be interested in getting a drink later so you could tell me more about your research, but obviously that’s not an option.” With a shake of his head, he gave a grimacing smirk, “Obviously that’s not going to be an option. I’m sorry for wasting your time.” 

As he was walking away, he heard her take a step towards him hesitantly. He was almost out of the door to the conference room before he felt her hand on his jacket sleeve. When he turned back around, she had an apology clear on her face. “I’m sorry for how I reacted — I just assumed that you were going to say something to me about my work being ridiculous. I’ve heard through the grapevine that you’re not known to be nice to those in the green energy field and I took that as a fact.” Her hands twisted together anxiously and she stared at them a moment before she finished, “I obviously can’t have anything alcoholic, but I’d love to maybe get dinner and we can talk more?” 

That dinner ended up going on for hours, their conversation transitioning from the future of renewable energy and the effect it would have on the environment to their lives and ideals. As their first interaction had shown, they didn’t always have similar viewpoints and often they devolved into childish bickering, but the two continued to meet up every night during the week-long conference and eventually, they fell into bed together. 

Their first time, six days after they had met, wasn't so much making love as it was pure, animalistic fucking. The two of them together were passionate, intense, and overwhelming in the best possible way. It was an experience brought on by a fight — if that was how they resolved their differences, he'd gladly do nothing but fight with Rey for the rest of his life. 

The taste of her skin on his tongue was a religious experience, her sweat the sweetest wine; her skin scarred but beautiful. They made love until they were spent, neither remembering their own names, much less why they'd been fighting in the first place. 

In the months that followed, she drove him up the wall and they fought like it was going out of style. The first time they clashed, beyond their initial introduction, had been on their one month anniversary. She thought it was nonsense to celebrate such a ridiculous thing — what were they _teenagers?_ Alright, so she may have been still a teenager, but the man was ten years her senior and he really should know better. His plans for the evening had been ultimately ruined and he’d been upset, since he’d been planning it since they first started dating. It took him a few days to calm down, but the make up sex had been amazing.

The only thing more passionate than their fights was when their bodies were intertwined. Their lovemaking was unlike anything he’d experienced, nor would he again in five years that followed their split. Each person who came after her had no way of getting him to that same place he’d been with Rey, and it wasn’t through lack of trying. He’d fucked men and women alike, but no one was like the girl he tried to leave behind.

Kylo had fallen hard for Rey and he’d never quite recovered when she’d left. They had only been together for just over eight months, but their time together had changed him. He still remembered the day that everything ended. Rey had been gradually becoming more distant, obsessing over the new formula she’d been perfecting. She wasn’t there yet, but she had plans to seek employment with one of the biodiesel companies and see if she could expand upon her work with their help.

“Come work at FO. Rey, I’m sure that I can get you a job in the R and D department. You wouldn’t have to go through this song and dance and we could be together more.” Kylo had begged her, desperate to spend more time with her. If she was planning on being part of another company’s research and development department anyway, why not work with First Order?

“I’m sorry Kylo, but you know how I feel about Snoke — that man’s name should have been _snake_ for all the underhanded dealing that he does. Besides, it’s not like you really have the sway to make any promises, you’re not exactly that high up on the food chain.” Rey shook her head, turning back to her laptop. She was in the middle of putting together a presentation for his uncle’s company, The Jedi Knights — not that he would ever tell her that he was in fact related to the company’s CEO. Kylo had left behind the tree hugging happy-go-lucky hippie part of his life when he’d run away from home at eighteen. Just because he was in love with Rey didn’t mean he subscribed to her ideals.

“But if you give him half a chance, you could see how much power he has! He has the means to make your biofuel available to the general public. You could make millions, if not billions, of dollars at the First Order,” Kylo weaseled, his hands reaching for her shoulders, turning her in the chair so that she was facing him. “Please, just think about it.”

“I’ve already thought about it! We’ve had this conversation how many times, now? I really don’t understand why you insist on bringing this up.” Rey sighed and tried to turn the chair back around so that she could continue to type up her presentation. When Kylo refused to budge, she glared at him and spat, “I don’t like handouts. I’ve never once accepted anything that could remotely be construed _as_ a handout my whole life. I won’t start now just because your pride is hurt since I refuse to let you ‘take care of things.’”

“Why don’t you just grow up and realize that this is how the world works!” Kylo growled, putting his hands on the armrests and getting into her face. “Yes, I want to take care of things — I want to take care of _you_. That’s all I’ve tried to do for past six months and you don’t make it very easy! It’s like you can’t get your head out of the clouds to see the real world. All you do is dream and dream of making the world a better place, but you obviously can’t do well enough on your own. You need money to make this dream of yours a reality. If you come to work with me, I could show you the ways of the industry, how it works in the real world. You’ll never get this silly idea of yours off the ground if you don’t let me _help_ you?”

She looked at him with cold eyes, her voice calm and cool, her English accent becoming more pronounced as she said, “I don’t need help from anyone, least of all _you_ , so I suggest you get out of my face. I may not be a ‘grown up’, but I do know that I have a right to feel the way I do. I am not some little girl who can be easily trifled with. I may just be a dreamer, but at least I didn’t sell my soul just to make money.” With a final cutting glare, she said, “Get out of my apartment.”

He was in a rage when he slammed the door on his way out of her home, shaking with the barely suppressed fury of a man incensed. _Didn’t she know that if the two of them could work together, there was nothing that could stand in their way? He was willing to support her in her goals and her dream of a truly renewable fuel source, his means and methods were just a little different than hers. She was determined to make it on her own, she refused to take anything resembling charity and she especially refused to work for big oil. He knew it was where she really needed to be, but she still refused._

He allowed a week of silence before he tried to talk to her again. The first day he’d been too angry to try and speak with her; by the second he was beginning to calm down. The third, he started to doubt that he’d been right in this particular argument; the fourth he knew he was wrong and had tried to call her. The fifth, he’d sent her roses that she’d refused. On the sixth day, he tried to talk to her in person and she slammed the door in his face. When she’d sent him a letter telling him they were done, and he found a box outside his door containing the things he’d left at her apartment, Kylo had fallen apart.

Kylo had tried to put the thought of her out of his head — to focus on his future. He’d succeeded in a small way, climbing the ladder of the First Order — or FO as it was more commonly known. His business acumen had made the largest oil company in the United States a great deal of money; Kylo used his reputation for being ruthless to squash those who stood in FO’s way. If you asked the CEO Obadiah Snoke what he thought of his heir apparent, he would tell you that he was going to go far.

Yes, Kylo had certainly made it far and had been responsible for doing away with several of their green energy counterparts. The Jedi Knights, Chewie and Company, even the famed Resistance Energy Consolidated all fell under his watch. Nothing would stand in the way of the FO and the monopoly they had not only on the fossil fuel market, but on the biofuel market as well.

His next target was Millennium Falcon Industries. Kylo had never let her off his radar for long and now he was determined to get the company that Rey had ultimately wound up in. The takeover would force her into meeting with him again. His victory was assured. 

At least, he’d thought so at the time. But then he began to notice that something wasn’t quite right. Every tried-and-true tactic that he had used in countless hostile takeovers in the past seemed to have a countermeasure, every underhanded trick he’d learned was being subverted. 

The first time he’d noticed a discrepancy, he’d been about to buy a large share of stocks but someone had already beaten him to punch. That in itself wasn’t too surprising, considering that the rumors surrounding the Falcon seemed to point to their new fuel being on the market in the next six months. The stocks he’d been slowly buying over a three year period had recently begun to skyrocket in price. It was making the First Order money, but not to quite the extent wanted it to.

The second time he became aware of something amiss, he’d thought it was just one or two of the board members of the Falcon who’d been involved in some of the previous companies he took over noticing him using similar tactics he’d used for their companies. Nothing too big to worry about, he’d just have to change his game plan a bit, have meetings set up with actors who would go undercover as investors in the company.

By the third time, the board had realized that there was a mole in their midst. CEO Snoke and Vice President of Sales Quiche Hux were the only two people who knew that Kylo Ren was going to go undercover as Matt Barnes, a corporate auditor. As an auditor he’d have access to every floor of the building without his presence being conspicuous. He’d altered his appearance with a blond wig, glasses and a baggy, ill-fitting suit that was nothing like the typical high fashion tailored perfection he normally wore. 

Things had been going fine, he’d found nothing out of place until he reached the server room. Kylo had poured over security footage of the various departments, finding nothing of interest until he’d seen _her_. Rey was disguised well, her lovely chestnut hair dyed a bright copper and her eyes hiding behind a pair of black-rimmed cat-eyed glasses. Somehow, the ugly glasses did nothing to detract from her beauty and he’d been captivated. 

That is — until he’d seen the way she’d fawned over that idiot, Plutt. The way she’d sat on his desk, toying with her hair, body all but laid out in front of the letch. It had made his blood boil. Who did she think she was, doing those things — and to Plutt, of all people? As he went back and watched previous footage of Plutt’s new assistant “Vera Rayden,” a pattern became apparent. She used her looks to disarm the man, constantly keeping _just_ out of reach to gain access to information she shouldn’t have. After he’d watched hours of similar footage, he’d discerned her schedule enough to know when she’d be in the server room next and had gone down to catch her.

But when he’d smelled that familiar vanilla scent once again, he was thrown back to the last time that he’d been happy with Rey: It had been their seven month anniversary and he’d had a ring hidden in his nightstand drawer for two months, planning on offering her the world on a silver platter. Knowing Rey, she would have been her stubborn self and made a fuss if he got her an expensive or fancy ring, so he’d opted for a simple band with a sapphire-cut emerald to match the flecks of green in her eyes. The box was tucked snuggly among his socks — the best hiding place he could think of considering it wasn’t a drawer she was likely to look into. It’d taken him ages to find the perfect ring for her, but he’d finally done it and he hoped that she’d love it as much as he did.

Being the hopeless romantic that he was, Kylo had planned the night meticulously with the intention of bringing up a vacation for the two of them. Visions of them walking hand in hand through Dunluce Castle had danced in his mind. She’d smile up at him and he’d lead her to the tallest tower and watch her face glow with joy. And then he’d put his arms around her and rest his chin on her shoulder. She’d beam and continue to look over the view — at least until he pulled the ring out. Rey would turn and shout out “yes!” as she embraced him. He’d slide the ring onto her finger and kiss her deeply. It was a perfect fantasy and one that had played through his mind more than once.

After a lovely dinner at Rey’s favorite Indian restaurant — vegetable tikka masala with naan bread — they’d gone home to his apartment where he’d meticulously arranged rose petals leading from the front door down the hall to the bedroom. There, he’d laid her out on his bed and brought out the massage oil to give her a full body massage which led to more intimate things. When she was truly relaxed and the two of them were sated, he’d brought up the idea of a vacation on their one year anniversary to the coasts of Ireland. For once, she hadn’t fought him on it, simply smiled and agreed that it sounded perfect.

The month that followed ended it all with a breakup before they even got to that point. The tickets to Ireland had been ripped as small as he could get them, tears staining his face. An empty bottle of bourbon was his only companion as he’d stared at the ring he’d spent so long finding.

When he could no longer bear its sight, he’d walked from his apartment to the desert behind it. Stumbling until his legs ached as much as heart, he’d thrown the ring as far as he could. He never wanted to see it again, it hurt too much to think about. It was one less thing to remind him of her.

As he came back to himself after recalling the memory, his eyes swept the rows of blinking computer servers looking for his prey. If nothing else, Kylo had to admit that Rey had definitely got the schedule of when she could snoop without interruption down. 

As his eyes made contact with a familiar set of hazel ones, his breath caught. It was one thing to have the idea and plan, and another to finally be face to face with her again. He was frozen with indecision; he loved Rey and his love had never truly gone away. Kylo knew that if she’d have him, he’d be hers for the taking no matter the time or distance that had come between them.

But he also knew that he’d worked hard over the years to make FO what it was, and he couldn’t throw that all away, even for someone he loved as much as Rey. As he stared into the eyes he knew to be the mole’s he was being torn apart. His heart wanted one thing, but his mind whispered another. The minute went on for forever as he contemplated what course of action he could take, what he could possibly lose and what he could possibly gain. When the recognition finally lit her eyes, he had her right where he wanted her.

**Author's Note:**

> This work would not have been possible without the assistance of [Mster70](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Mster70/pseuds/Mster70) and [SophiaDreith](http://archiveofourown.org/users/SophiaDreith/pseuds/SophiaDreith). Thank you ladies so very, very much!


End file.
